2023 FW₁₃

2023 FW₁₃
Discovery
Discovered by	Pan-STARRS
Discovery site	Haleakala Observatory
Discovery date	28 March 2023
Designations
MPC designation	2023 FW13
Minor planet category	NEO; Apollo ; Earth quasi-satellite ;
Orbital characteristics
	Epoch 26 February 2023 (JD 2460000.5)
	Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc	10.86 yr (3,967 d)
Aphelion	1.1781 AU
Perihelion	0.8225 AU
Semi-major axis	1.0003 AU
Eccentricity	0.1777
Orbital period (sidereal)	1.0005 yr (365.42 days)
Mean anomaly	73.09°
Mean motion	0° 59m 6.601s / day
Inclination	2.7441°
Longitude of ascending node	70.557°
Argument of perihelion	354.40°
Earth MOID	.0454762 AU (6,803,140 km; 17.6979 LD)
Physical characteristics
Absolute magnitude (H)	26.01; 26.10;

2023 FW₁₃ is an asteroid that was spotted on March 28, 2023, from the Pan-STARRS telescope at Hawaii, United States. It circles the sun in sync with Earth in such a way that it appears to orbit Earth, but well outside Earth's Hill sphere, making it a quasi-satellite.^[3]

Orbit[edit]

The orbit of 2023 FW₁₃ has a one-to-one resonance with Earth and is very eccentric, reaching out halfway to Mars and halfway to Venus.^[4] It's estimated that it has circled Earth since 100 B.C. and will continue until 3700 A.D. If those estimates are correct, it would significantly overtake 469219 Kamoʻoalewa as the most stable quasi-satellite of Earth.^[4]

References[edit]

^ ^a ^b ^c "2023 FW13". Minor Planet Center. Archived from the original on 10 April 2023. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: (2023 FW13)" (2023-04-01 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Archived from the original on 18 November 2022. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
^ ^a ^b Kuthunur, Sharmila (12 April 2023). "Newfound asteroid is a long-term 'quasi-moon' of Earth". Space.com. Archived from the original on 20 May 2023. Retrieved 20 May 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c Chandler, David. "DOES EARTH HAVE A NEW QUASI-MOON?". Archived from the original on 14 May 2023. Retrieved 20 May 2023.